Microspheres and flosses have been used individually in a variety of products. They have also been used together to make compressed dosage forms, such as tablets.
Liquiflash microspheres are the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,720, incorporated herein by reference. The microspheres have enhanced flowability, making them easy to coat, process, and store.
PCT Publication WO 88/06558, published Sep. 7, 1998, deals with powder dosage forms containing coated pellets of bio-affecting agents. These powders do not contain a floss component.
Shearform flosses have been used in a variety of food and pharmaceutical applications, such as the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,836, incorporated herein by reference, describes the flash flow process and its use to make amorphous solid shearform matrices having flake-like form.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,172, also incorporated herein by reference, discusses the use of flash heat techniques to make sucrose-containing flosses, which are used to make tablets.
The use of shearform matrices to make compacted comestible units is described in co-assigned PCT application No. PCT/US95/07144, filed Jun. 6, 1995. The PCT case discloses: (1) providing a partially recrystallized shearform matrix; (2) combining the matrix with additives to form flowable, compactable blends; and (3) compacting the blends to form comestible units, such as tablets.
Additionally, PCT publication WO 95/34293 (published Dec. 21, 1995) from co-assigned PCT Application No. PCT/US95/07194, filed Jun. 6, 1995, discloses a process for making rapidly dissolving dosage units. In this PCT application, a shearform matrix is combined with an additive, and the combination is molded to make a unit dosage form. Tamping may be used to compact the dosage form and increase its integrity.